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CBS newsman Mike Wallace, the dogged, merciless reporter and interviewer who took on politicians, celebrities and other public figures in a 60-year career highlighted by the on-air confrontations that helped make “60 Minutes” the most successful primetime television news program ever, has died. He was 93.
Wallace died Saturday night, CBS spokesman Kevin Tedesco said. READ FULL STORY »
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It may be impossible to overstate the importance of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs to American music. A pioneering banjo player who helped create modern country music, his sound is instantly recognizable and as intrinsically wrapped in the tapestry of the genre as Johnny Cash’s baritone or Hank Williams’ heartbreak.
Scruggs died Wednesday morning at age 88 of natural causes. The legacy he helped build with bandleader Bill Monroe, guitarist Lester Flatt and the rest of the Blue Grass Boys was evident all around Nashville, where he died in an area hospital. His string-bending, mind-blowing way of picking helped transform a regional sound into a national passion.
“It’s not just bluegrass, it’s American music,” bluegrass fan turned country star Dierks Bentley said. “There’s 17- or 18-year-old kids turning on today’s country music and hearing that banjo and they have no idea where that came from. That sound has probably always been there for them and they don’t realize someone invented that three-finger roll style of playing. You hear it everywhere.” READ FULL STORY »
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is strongly defending his decision to have flags lowered to half-staff Saturday for the late singer Whitney Houston amid criticism partly related to her history of substance abuse. Christie says he rejects the idea the New Jersey native “forfeited the good things that she did in her life” because of her substance abuse struggles.
The Republican governor said Wednesday disparaging emails and other messages have been coming into his office. He says critics are wrongly accusing him of treating Houston better than fallen soldiers. He has ordered flags flown at half-staff for all 31 fallen New Jersey soldiers and every fallen police officer during his time in office.
The cause of Houston’s death at a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel over the weekend hasn’t been determined.
Oprah Winfrey makes no apologies for spending millions on an elite school for underprivileged South African girls. But she’s also looking for ways to make her money stretch further to help more struggling Africans.
Winfrey spoke Friday on the eve of the first graduation at her school. Of the 75 students who started at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007, 72 will graduate on Saturday.
All are headed to universities in South Africa and the United States to pursue such studies as medicine, law, engineering, and economics.
Across South Africa, more than half a million members of the class of 2011 disappeared before the 496,000 remaining took their final exams. Only a quarter of those who graduated did well enough to qualify for university study.
“We’re taking a victory lap here, for transformation,” Winfrey said. “Every single girl is going to leave here with something greater to offer the world than her body.” READ FULL STORY »
Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry collection fetched a record-setting $115 million — including more than $11.8 million for a pearl necklace and more than $8.8 million for a diamond ring given to her by Richard Burton — at an auction of gems and other memorabilia amassed by the late actress. The 33.19-carat diamond ring given to Taylor by the actor she married twice, sold for $8,818,500. The pearl, diamond and ruby necklace, known as “La Peregrina,” purchased at auction for $37,000 in 1969 by Burton for Taylor reached the world-record price of $11,842,500. It was estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million. The price surpassed the previous auction record for a pearl, set in 2007 at Christie’s auction house in New York City with the sale of The Baroda Pearls for $7,096,000. READ FULL STORY »
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Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film, The Wizard of Oz, has died. He was 93. The 4-foot-5 Slover died of cardiopulmonary arrest Tuesday afternoon in a central Georgia hospital, said Laurens County Deputy Coroner Nathan Stanley. According to friends, as recently as last weekend, Slover appeared at events in the suburban Chicago area.
Slover was best known for playing the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins’ band but also had roles as a townsman and soldier in the film, said John Fricke, author of 100 Years of Oz and five other books on the movie and its star, Judy Garland. Slover was one of the tiniest male Munchkins in the movie.
Long after Slover retired, he continued to appear around the country at festivals and events related to the movie. He was one of seven Munchkins at the 2007 unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dedicated to the little people in the movie. Only three remain of the 124 diminutive actors who played the beloved Munchkins. READ FULL STORY »
The bed where Michael Jackson died is no longer available for sale. Julien’s Auctions has removed the queen-sized headboard from its auction of items from 100 North Carolwood Drive, Jackson’s last residence. “This item is the only portion of the bed that had been listed for auction, and no part of the bed remains for sale,” company president Darren Julien said Tuesday, adding that he removed the carved headboard seen in evidence photos during the criminal trial of Jackson’s physician from the auction’s lots at the request of Jackson’s estate. READ FULL STORY »
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Legendary Emmy-winning comedy writer, director, and producer Hal Kanter has passed away at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia, according to the Los Angeles Times. Kanter had a career that spanned nearly seven decades and his unparalleled resume included creating the groundbreaking NBC sitcom, Julia, working as a writer and producer on Chico and the Man, and, perhaps most notably, writing the Oscar telecast for nearly 33 years. Two of Kanter’s three Emmys came from his work on the Academy Awards. (His first Emmy was for the variety program The George Gobel Show.)
In addition to the indelible mark he left on television, which also included creating The Jimmy Stewart Show and working briefly as an executive producer on All in the Family, Kanter wrote for the big screen as well. His film credits include writing Road to Bali, Money From Home, Artists and Models, Pocket Full of Miracles, and The Rose Tattoo, which he collaborated on with Tennessee Williams. Kanter stepped behind the camera on occasion, directing the 1957 Elvis Presley drama Loving You, which he also co-wrote.
A recipient of the Writers Guild of America’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television, Kanter penned his memoir So Far, So Funny: My Life in Show Business in 1999 and was described by the LA Times as being “the go-to wit to act as master of ceremonies or speak at Hollywood functions and other events.” Carl Reiner echoed the sentiment, telling the Times, “What a dear man. He was considered one of the wits of the industry; there’s no question about it. Any time he was called upon, he always could make the audience laugh.”
Amy Winehouse died as the unintended consequence of drinking too much alcohol, a British coroner ruled Wednesday. Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of “death by misadventure,” saying the singer died of accidental alcohol poisoning. “The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death,” Greenaway said.
The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. An initial autopsy proved inconclusive, although it found no traces of illegal drugs in her system. Pathologist Suhail Baithun told the inquest into the singer’s death that Winehouse had consumed a “very large quantity of alcohol” — the level in her blood put her more than five times over the legal drunk-driving limit. READ FULL STORY »
Brigadoon actress Elaine Stewart, who married game-show producer Merrill Heatter and went on to appear in popular shows like Gambit and High Rollers, died Monday in Beverly Hills, Calif., after a long illness, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was 81. In her early 20s, Stewart appeared opposite Kirk Douglas in Vincente Minnelli’s Hollywood drama, The Bad and the Beautiful, and she played the beautiful New York socialite opposite Gene Kelly and Van Johnson in Brigadoon (1954).
She also appeared in Young Bess (1953), The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954), The Tattered Dress (1957), and Night Passage (1957), as well as TV shows like The Third Man (1959), Bat Masterson (1960), Burke’s Law (1963), and Perry Mason (1964).
